Carly Lightowlers
Biographic Data
| ID | 5237461 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Carly Lightowlers |
| GIVEN NAMES | Carly |
| FAMILY NAME | Lightowlers |
| SIGNATURE | LIGHTOWLERS C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Liverpool |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0608-8141 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 38 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Alcohol and Violence: Isolating the Impact of the Off-Trade
COVID-19 restrictions significantly altered alcohol availability across England, at times with on-trade premises closed, presenting a novel opportunity to examine the effects of off-trade alcohol availability on violence. Police recorded violent crime data were used to examine changes in the level and proportion of (i) violence as well as (ii) domestic violence, which was alcohol-related during this period. On-trade closures saw the proportion of…
Drunk and disorderly data: Applying natural language processing to identify alcohol-related crimes in police data
Alcohol plays a significant role in crime, and whilst police data may contain a measure of alcohol-related crime, it is not entirely accurate. This study presents a new measure of alcohol-related crime in police data. A natural language processing algorithm was applied to crime descriptions in police data, to identify crimes as alcohol-related or not. This algorithm estimated that a higher proportion of crime is linked to alcohol than current pol…
Exploring ‘problematisations’ of alcohol intoxication in sentencing
Criminal courts sentence many crimes involving alcohol intoxication. However, how alcohol intoxication shapes blame and culpability is not straightforward, and how intoxication should influence sentencing is contested. This invites a critical analysis of sentencing guidelines to show how they construct and interpret the alcohol–crime relationship. Bacchi’s framework What’s the problem represented to be? was used to analyse how the ‘problem’ of al…
Reinforcing the abstinence ideal: Criminal justice developments
As scholars of alcohol and other drugs we should be concerned with the ongoing development of criminal justice policy and the narratives it reinforces about the nature of the relationship between s
The role of deprivation and alcohol availability in shaping trends in violent crime
It is well known that both deprivation and alcohol availability are associated with violent crime. However, less is known about whether the former moderates the latter. Pioneering the linkage of novel alcohol availability measures derived from consumer data with police data and an index of deprivation, we examine inequalities in violent crime across small-level geography (LSOAs) for the whole of England. Our findings confirmed a recent upward tre…
Home drinking during and post‐Covid ‐19: Why the silence on domestic violence
There is a well‐established body of evidence demonstrating alcohol is a compounding factor increasing both the occurrence and the severity of domestic violence in intimate relationships. The COVID‐19 pandemic and associated public health measures such as lockdowns and social distancing have contributed to a rise in domestic violence. Yet, despite the closure of public drinking venues and substantial changes to the home drinking landscape, the rol…
The spatial effect of alcohol availability on violence: A geographically weighted regression analysis
Studies have identified an association between proximity to outlets selling alcohol and violent crime. The strength of this association has been known to vary spatially as not all areas have the same accessibility to alcohol outlets, suggesting local context matters. Within this evidence base, however, studies have not routinely incorporated spatial variance into their models. Moreover, whilst it is acknowledged that the characteristics of the al…
The impact of Covid-19 and associated public health restrictions on trends in police-recorded violence in an English police force area
While violent crime trends demonstrated fluctuations with lockdowns, and subsequent easing of restrictions, these changes were not demonstrably larger than expected trends within this English region, suggesting that a sustained amplification in violence was not observed within this data. However, it is important to acknowledge the high levels of violence reported in this region across the study period, which should be used as a key driver for inv…
Temporal measures of modern slavery victimisation
This article examines police data to assess the duration for which different groups of victims of modern slavery endured exploitation and the length of time after their exploitation concluded before it was officially recorded. The article proposes that these measures of modern slavery victimisation can provide important insights into temporal dimensions of the problem and how best to intervene. Reference to current numbers of victims ‘rescued’, i…
Contextual culpability: How drinking and social context impact sentencing of violence
The controversial effect of intoxication on sentencing outcomes has received renewed attention with a series of new empirical studies. However, these studies have relied on survey data that conflate alcohol and drug intoxication and miss pertinent contextual features of the offence. This article explores how alcohol intoxication, and its social context, impact sentence outcomes for violent offences. To do so, the probability of custodial sentence…
Drunk and Doubly Deviant? the Role of Gender and Intoxication in Sentencing Assault Offences
Little is known about how alcohol intoxication impacts sentence outcomes. This study assesses whether intoxication differentially aggravates sentence outcomes for male and female defendants of assault offences. It does so by modelling the probability of custody and sentence severity using the Crown Court Sentencing Survey, including interaction terms to account for the gendered application of intoxication as a sentencing factor. The main finding …
Intoxication and Assault: An Analysis of Crown Court Sentencing Practices in England and Wales
Little is known about how the Sentencing Council’s guidance to treat intoxication as aggravation is applied in practice. With reference to assault offences, this study examines: whether intoxication has an aggravating effect; whether this is moderated through other characteristics of the case; and whether any effect is consistent across Crown Court locations. The probability of custody and sentence severity are modelled using (ordered) logit mult…
Exploring the punitive surge: Crown Court sentencing practices before and after the 2011 English riots
The English summer riots of 2011 resulted in the criminal justice system having to process an unprecedented number of offenders in a short timeframe. This study explores sentencing practice in the wake of the riots using the 2011 Crown Court Sentencing Survey. A multilevel model was implemented to specify the probability of receiving a custodial sentence for offences of commercial burglary. This model allows exploring differences in sentencing be…
Let’s get real about the ‘riots’: Exploring the relationship between deprivation and the English summer disturbances of 2011
Despite media and political rhetoric to the contrary, there is persuasive evidence to suggest an association between deprivation and those involved in the English riots of 2011, which continues to be downplayed when developing responses to crime and crime prevention policy. This study explores empirical evidence from two major cities in the North West of England, which highlights an association between deprivation and rioting in both criminal cha…
The 2011 English ‘Riots’: Prosecutorial Zeal and Judicial Abandon
Much attention has focussed on the severity of the sentences imposed following the 2011 ‘summer rioting’ in England. The Court of Appeal confirmed that participation in a collective outbreak of disorder takes offending outside the sentencing guidelines. The position for sentencing riot-related offending in future is unclear, however, as the Court gave no indication of how to calibrate this departure, and the Sentencing Council has made offending …
The Dynamic Risk of Heavy Episodic Drinking on Interpersonal Assault in Young Adolescence and Early Adulthood
This study examines the extent to which variation in violent behaviour can be explained by variation in drinking patterns in late adolescence and early adulthood using panel data of regular drinkers aged between 16 and 29 in England and Wales. Multilevel models explore individuals’ propensity to commit assault controlling for their drinking behaviour. Results suggest that males and younger people are more likely to commit assault offences and tha…
Exploring the Temporal Association between Young People's Alcohol Consumption Patterns and Violent Behavior
Alcohol consumption patterns such as binge drinking have routinely been associated with interpersonal assault amongst young people. Examining how drinking patterns are temporally associated with violent behavior during adolescence and young adulthood further develops an understanding of this relationship. This study employs data from the Offending Crime and Justice Survey in England and Wales, offering insight into young people's drinking and off…
A review of the impact of the Licensing Act 2003 on levels of violence in England and Wales: A public health perspective
Exploring the punitive surge: Crown Court sentencing practices before and after the 2011 English riots
The English summer riots of 2011 resulted in the criminal justice system having to process an unprecedented number of offenders in a short timeframe. This study explores sentencing practice in the wake of the riots using the 2011 Crown Court Sentencing Survey. A multilevel model was implemented to specify the probability of receiving a custodial sentence for offences of commercial burglary. This model allows exploring differences in sentencing be…
Intoxication and Assault: An Analysis of Crown Court Sentencing Practices in England and Wales
Little is known about how the Sentencing Council’s guidance to treat intoxication as aggravation is applied in practice. With reference to assault offences, this study examines: whether intoxication has an aggravating effect; whether this is moderated through other characteristics of the case; and whether any effect is consistent across Crown Court locations. The probability of custody and sentence severity are modelled using (ordered) logit mult…
Let’s get real about the ‘riots’: Exploring the relationship between deprivation and the English summer disturbances of 2011
Despite media and political rhetoric to the contrary, there is persuasive evidence to suggest an association between deprivation and those involved in the English riots of 2011, which continues to be downplayed when developing responses to crime and crime prevention policy. This study explores empirical evidence from two major cities in the North West of England, which highlights an association between deprivation and rioting in both criminal cha…
The 2011 English ‘Riots’: Prosecutorial Zeal and Judicial Abandon
Much attention has focussed on the severity of the sentences imposed following the 2011 ‘summer rioting’ in England. The Court of Appeal confirmed that participation in a collective outbreak of disorder takes offending outside the sentencing guidelines. The position for sentencing riot-related offending in future is unclear, however, as the Court gave no indication of how to calibrate this departure, and the Sentencing Council has made offending …
The Dynamic Risk of Heavy Episodic Drinking on Interpersonal Assault in Young Adolescence and Early Adulthood
This study examines the extent to which variation in violent behaviour can be explained by variation in drinking patterns in late adolescence and early adulthood using panel data of regular drinkers aged between 16 and 29 in England and Wales. Multilevel models explore individuals’ propensity to commit assault controlling for their drinking behaviour. Results suggest that males and younger people are more likely to commit assault offences and tha…
Exploring the Temporal Association between Young People's Alcohol Consumption Patterns and Violent Behavior
Alcohol consumption patterns such as binge drinking have routinely been associated with interpersonal assault amongst young people. Examining how drinking patterns are temporally associated with violent behavior during adolescence and young adulthood further develops an understanding of this relationship. This study employs data from the Offending Crime and Justice Survey in England and Wales, offering insight into young people's drinking and off…
Drunk and Doubly Deviant? the Role of Gender and Intoxication in Sentencing Assault Offences
Little is known about how alcohol intoxication impacts sentence outcomes. This study assesses whether intoxication differentially aggravates sentence outcomes for male and female defendants of assault offences. It does so by modelling the probability of custody and sentence severity using the Crown Court Sentencing Survey, including interaction terms to account for the gendered application of intoxication as a sentencing factor. The main finding …
Temporal measures of modern slavery victimisation
This article examines police data to assess the duration for which different groups of victims of modern slavery endured exploitation and the length of time after their exploitation concluded before it was officially recorded. The article proposes that these measures of modern slavery victimisation can provide important insights into temporal dimensions of the problem and how best to intervene. Reference to current numbers of victims ‘rescued’, i…
Contextual culpability: How drinking and social context impact sentencing of violence
The controversial effect of intoxication on sentencing outcomes has received renewed attention with a series of new empirical studies. However, these studies have relied on survey data that conflate alcohol and drug intoxication and miss pertinent contextual features of the offence. This article explores how alcohol intoxication, and its social context, impact sentence outcomes for violent offences. To do so, the probability of custodial sentence…
A review of the impact of the Licensing Act 2003 on levels of violence in England and Wales: A public health perspective
Exploring the Temporal Association between Young People's Alcohol Consumption Patterns and Violent Behavior
Alcohol consumption patterns such as binge drinking have routinely been associated with interpersonal assault amongst young people. Examining how drinking patterns are temporally associated with violent behavior during adolescence and young adulthood further develops an understanding of this relationship. This study employs data from the Offending Crime and Justice Survey in England and Wales, offering insight into young people's drinking and off…
The Dynamic Risk of Heavy Episodic Drinking on Interpersonal Assault in Young Adolescence and Early Adulthood
This study examines the extent to which variation in violent behaviour can be explained by variation in drinking patterns in late adolescence and early adulthood using panel data of regular drinkers aged between 16 and 29 in England and Wales. Multilevel models explore individuals’ propensity to commit assault controlling for their drinking behaviour. Results suggest that males and younger people are more likely to commit assault offences and tha…
Let’s get real about the ‘riots’: Exploring the relationship between deprivation and the English summer disturbances of 2011
Despite media and political rhetoric to the contrary, there is persuasive evidence to suggest an association between deprivation and those involved in the English riots of 2011, which continues to be downplayed when developing responses to crime and crime prevention policy. This study explores empirical evidence from two major cities in the North West of England, which highlights an association between deprivation and rioting in both criminal cha…
The 2011 English ‘Riots’: Prosecutorial Zeal and Judicial Abandon
Much attention has focussed on the severity of the sentences imposed following the 2011 ‘summer rioting’ in England. The Court of Appeal confirmed that participation in a collective outbreak of disorder takes offending outside the sentencing guidelines. The position for sentencing riot-related offending in future is unclear, however, as the Court gave no indication of how to calibrate this departure, and the Sentencing Council has made offending …
Exploring the punitive surge: Crown Court sentencing practices before and after the 2011 English riots
The English summer riots of 2011 resulted in the criminal justice system having to process an unprecedented number of offenders in a short timeframe. This study explores sentencing practice in the wake of the riots using the 2011 Crown Court Sentencing Survey. A multilevel model was implemented to specify the probability of receiving a custodial sentence for offences of commercial burglary. This model allows exploring differences in sentencing be…
Intoxication and Assault: An Analysis of Crown Court Sentencing Practices in England and Wales
Little is known about how the Sentencing Council’s guidance to treat intoxication as aggravation is applied in practice. With reference to assault offences, this study examines: whether intoxication has an aggravating effect; whether this is moderated through other characteristics of the case; and whether any effect is consistent across Crown Court locations. The probability of custody and sentence severity are modelled using (ordered) logit mult…
Drunk and Doubly Deviant? the Role of Gender and Intoxication in Sentencing Assault Offences
Little is known about how alcohol intoxication impacts sentence outcomes. This study assesses whether intoxication differentially aggravates sentence outcomes for male and female defendants of assault offences. It does so by modelling the probability of custody and sentence severity using the Crown Court Sentencing Survey, including interaction terms to account for the gendered application of intoxication as a sentencing factor. The main finding …
Contextual culpability: How drinking and social context impact sentencing of violence
The controversial effect of intoxication on sentencing outcomes has received renewed attention with a series of new empirical studies. However, these studies have relied on survey data that conflate alcohol and drug intoxication and miss pertinent contextual features of the offence. This article explores how alcohol intoxication, and its social context, impact sentence outcomes for violent offences. To do so, the probability of custodial sentence…
Temporal measures of modern slavery victimisation
This article examines police data to assess the duration for which different groups of victims of modern slavery endured exploitation and the length of time after their exploitation concluded before it was officially recorded. The article proposes that these measures of modern slavery victimisation can provide important insights into temporal dimensions of the problem and how best to intervene. Reference to current numbers of victims ‘rescued’, i…
The role of deprivation and alcohol availability in shaping trends in violent crime
It is well known that both deprivation and alcohol availability are associated with violent crime. However, less is known about whether the former moderates the latter. Pioneering the linkage of novel alcohol availability measures derived from consumer data with police data and an index of deprivation, we examine inequalities in violent crime across small-level geography (LSOAs) for the whole of England. Our findings confirmed a recent upward tre…
Home drinking during and post‐Covid ‐19: Why the silence on domestic violence
There is a well‐established body of evidence demonstrating alcohol is a compounding factor increasing both the occurrence and the severity of domestic violence in intimate relationships. The COVID‐19 pandemic and associated public health measures such as lockdowns and social distancing have contributed to a rise in domestic violence. Yet, despite the closure of public drinking venues and substantial changes to the home drinking landscape, the rol…
The spatial effect of alcohol availability on violence: A geographically weighted regression analysis
Studies have identified an association between proximity to outlets selling alcohol and violent crime. The strength of this association has been known to vary spatially as not all areas have the same accessibility to alcohol outlets, suggesting local context matters. Within this evidence base, however, studies have not routinely incorporated spatial variance into their models. Moreover, whilst it is acknowledged that the characteristics of the al…
The impact of Covid-19 and associated public health restrictions on trends in police-recorded violence in an English police force area
While violent crime trends demonstrated fluctuations with lockdowns, and subsequent easing of restrictions, these changes were not demonstrably larger than expected trends within this English region, suggesting that a sustained amplification in violence was not observed within this data. However, it is important to acknowledge the high levels of violence reported in this region across the study period, which should be used as a key driver for inv…
Reinforcing the abstinence ideal: Criminal justice developments
As scholars of alcohol and other drugs we should be concerned with the ongoing development of criminal justice policy and the narratives it reinforces about the nature of the relationship between s
Drunk and disorderly data: Applying natural language processing to identify alcohol-related crimes in police data
Alcohol plays a significant role in crime, and whilst police data may contain a measure of alcohol-related crime, it is not entirely accurate. This study presents a new measure of alcohol-related crime in police data. A natural language processing algorithm was applied to crime descriptions in police data, to identify crimes as alcohol-related or not. This algorithm estimated that a higher proportion of crime is linked to alcohol than current pol…
Exploring ‘problematisations’ of alcohol intoxication in sentencing
Criminal courts sentence many crimes involving alcohol intoxication. However, how alcohol intoxication shapes blame and culpability is not straightforward, and how intoxication should influence sentencing is contested. This invites a critical analysis of sentencing guidelines to show how they construct and interpret the alcohol–crime relationship. Bacchi’s framework What’s the problem represented to be? was used to analyse how the ‘problem’ of al…
Alcohol and Violence: Isolating the Impact of the Off-Trade
COVID-19 restrictions significantly altered alcohol availability across England, at times with on-trade premises closed, presenting a novel opportunity to examine the effects of off-trade alcohol availability on violence. Police recorded violent crime data were used to examine changes in the level and proportion of (i) violence as well as (ii) domestic violence, which was alcohol-related during this period. On-trade closures saw the proportion of…
Psychology (14 works) · Criminology (13 works) · Crime Patterns and Interventions (12 works) · Medicine (11 works) · Human Factors and Ergonomics (10 works) · Poison control (10 works) · Political science (10 works) · Homelessness and Social Issues (9 works) · Injury prevention (9 works) · Law (9 works)